Built-up strip mill guide



Dec. 6, 1966 G. A. OAKES 3,289,457

BUILT-UP STRIP MILL GUIDE Filed June 22, 1964 FIG.3

W INVENTOR.

m/f/fl @a /4 s 5 WJ M ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,289,457 BUILT-UP STRIP MILL GUIDE Grant A. (Bakes, RD. 4, near Cortland, Ohio Fiied .Iune 22, 1964, Ser. No. 376,943 1 Claim. (Cl. 72428) This invention relates to a guide which is adapted to contact lateral edges of strip material, such as strip steel, as the latter is processed by a rolling mill and more particularly a continuous strip mill and the like.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that strip mill guides are positioned between the stands of rolls in a rolling mill and particularly adjacent the stands of rolls so as to suitably guide the traveling strip relative thereto. Such guides comprise suitable mounting means which have customarily been provided with replaceable, elongated, relatively soft metal guide members which engaged the lateral edges of the steel strip.

The present invention modifies the construction and the formation of the guide member by building up a suitable wearing surface of desirable characteristics and particularly with respect to the wearing characteristics of the material of which the guide is formed.

One of the objects of the invention is, therefore, the provision of a built-up strip mill guide presenting a relatively longer wearing surface.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a built-up strip mill guide which is formed from a Worn guide member removed from a strip mill.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of means whereby the wear member in a strip mill guide may be removed and built up to comprise a new article of manufacture, particularly suited for its purpose and particularly with respect to longer life than the original article from which it is formed.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a method of making a built-up guide for a strip mill.

It will occur to those skilled in the art that strip mill guides formed of metal relatively softer than the steel being directed .to the roll stands of the strip mill have heretofore been commonly used. It will also occur to those skilled in the art that such strip mill guides have been relatively soft and have required constant replacement which interferes with the operation of the mill.

It is, therefore, a still further object of the invention to provide an improved built-up strip mill guide which has a considerably longer life in use than those guides heretofore known in the art.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invent-ion resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being the intention to cover all changes and modifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for purposes of the disclosure, which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a built-up strip mill guide formed in accordance with this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a strip mill guide during formation of the built-up surface thereof.

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged cross section on line 3-3 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged cross section on line 44 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged cross section on line 5-5 of FIGURE 1.

By referring to the drawings and FIGURE 1 in particular, it will be seen that a strip mill guide has been disclosed which is of conventional size and shape, and in 3,239,457 Patented Dec. 6, 1966 the example chosen for illustration the guide is approximately 33" long by 3 /2 in width and 1" in thickness. It has a T-head at one end, the guide body being indicated by the numeral 10, and the T-head being indicated by the numeral 11. The T-head is formed with a projecting extension 12 of lesser height than the remainder of the head 11 of the strip mill guide so that it will fit beneath a mounting member in a conventional mounting means positioned alongside the pass line of a strip mill, for example, and adjacent a stand of reducing rolls therein.

The opposite end of the strip mill guide 10 has angular end portions 13 and'14 which angle towards one another and terminate with a relatively narrow end portion 15.

As seen in FIGURE 1 of the drawings, the strip mill guide is in condition for installation in the guide means of a strip mill.

By referring to FIGURE 2 of the drawing, the same strip mill guide will be seen in perspective elevation with a longitudinally extending groove 16 therein, and which groove extends from the end portion 15 to the T-head portion 11 and through the same to terminate in the end wall 17 which defines the difference in height between the T-head portion and the projecting extension 12 as heretofore referred to. The groove 16 is formed in the strip mill guide body It) and filled in with a relatively harder metal as illustrated in FIGURE 2 of the drawings wherein a section of spooled wire W of diameter is being fed into the groove 16 by an electrode holder, the jaws of which are indicated at 18 and 19, it being understood that the electrode holder, including the jaws 18 and 19, is connected with a source of suitable welding current (not shown). The area in which the electric arc is formed in the groove 16 is protectively enclosed with argon gas to prevent oxidation at the area in which the spooled wire W is being melted by the electric arc and deposited in the groove 16, as will be understood by those skilled in the art. The electric energy is supplied through a cable 20.

The strip mill guide body 10 is preheated to a temperature between 8001000 F. and the build up of the desirable metal in the groove 16 is accomplished while the strip mill guide 10 is within the indicated temperature range.

By referring now to FIGURE 3 of the drawings an enlarged cross sectional elevation of the strip mill guide body 10 may be seen, and it will be observed that the groove 16 therein is of irregular shape.

By referring now to FIGURE 4 of the drawings, it will be seen that the relatively harder metal of the spooled wire W has been deposited by the electric arc melting under the argon gas protective shield and deposited so as to completely fill the longitudinal groove 16 and build up a surplus above the level of the top of the strip mill guide body 10. In FIGURE 4 of the drawings, as well as in FIGURES 2 and 5 of the drawings, the relatively harder deposited metal is generally indicated by the numeral 21. The relatively harder metal is deposited by filling up the groove 16 progressively in one pass of the spooled wire W which is continuously fed through the electrode jaws into the arc and thereby melted and deposited.

In a typical arrangement, the electrical energy will be at 250 amperes and 26 volts DC, and it will be supplied by a constant current machine and the machine set so that its current output is related to the speed of the wire which is generally 23' per second. This procedure will, under the protection of the argon gas, result in a perfect bond between the relatively harder metal and the relatively softer metal of the strip metal guide body 10. When the groove 16 has been completely filled from one end to the other, as it appears in cross section in FIGURE 4 of the drawings, the strip mill guide body is cooled, preferably with air although a water quench can be used, and the excess metal as appears, in FIG- URE 4 of the drawings, is then ground off, or otherwise removed, to form the transversely flat surface as it appears in FIGURES 1 and 5 of the drawings. The illustration in FIGURE 5 of the drawings shoWs the deposited relatively harder metal 21 positioned in the groove 16 of the strip metal guide body where it has bonded completely therewith and the top surface has been removed, as hereinbefore referred to, to form the uniformly transversely fiat surface.

The next step in the formation of the built-up strip metal guide is to straighten the same so as to overcome the are which normally occurs during the preheating and welding in of the relatively hard metal 21. When the straightening has been completed, the built-up rolling mill guide appears as in FIGURE 1 of the drawings, and it is then ready for installation in a strip mill where it will considerably outlast the rolling mill guides heretofore known in the art.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that such rolling mill guides as heretofore known in the art are generally formed of a copper base alloy, such as bearing bronze, or the like. The relatively harder metal which is used to build up the desirable wearing surface longitudinally of and centrally of the strip mill guide body is a metal such as aluminum bronze which is approximately 10% aluminum, 1 /2% iron and the balance copper. This metal is considerably harder than the bearing bronze of which the strip mill guide body 10 is formed, and at the same time it is relatively softer than the steel strip which is guided thereby so that it is entirely suitable for the purpose intended.

It will thus occur to those skilled in the art that a builtup strip mill guide has been disclosed, together with the method of making the same, which produces a superior article and which may, incidentally, be produced by reworking used worn-out strip mill guides.

It will occur to those skilled in the art that the longitudinal center line built-up area of the strip mill guide ll body as disclosed herein is in the desirable position to receive a majority of the wear resulting from contact by the lateral edges of strip material, such as strip steel being guided. It will also occur to those skilled in the art that the deflection of the strip material being guided will cause the same to properly enter the stands of rolls of the strip mill, while at the same time presenting suitable wearing surfaces capable of relatively long life. It will also occur to those skilled in the art that if desired the relatively harder metal of the spooled wire may be deposited through the use of a manual torch for melting the same and Welding the same into the groove in the strip mill guide body, and such procedure is therefore con sidered to be within the scope of the present invention.

The built-up strip mill guide disclosed herein has been described in connection with a continuous strip mill and a stand of rolls therein, and it will occur to those skilled in the art that the guides might equally well be applied to similar metal strip handling, working and fabricating operations where it is desired to guide a traveling strip in a fixed path, and having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

A guide for traveling strips in a strip mill and the like comprising a metallic elongated wear member of rectangular cross sectional shape having a T-head on one end, an angular configuration on the opposite end and a longitudinally extending centrally disposed groove having an irregular surface in which a groove filling body of relatively harder metal is deposited and uniformly welded to said metallic wear member and thus forming a principal wearing surface, said relatively harder metal consisting of the group including aluminum bronze alloy.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 4/1934 Knuth 29529 1/1940 Brangle et a1. 72428 

